Aggressive behavior as a reinforcer in mice: activation by allopregnanolone

Fish, Eric W.; Bold, Joseph F De; Miczek, Klaus A.

doi:10.1007/s00213-002-1211-2

Cited by 109 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(74 reference statements)

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“…To the best of our knowledge, however, the present study is the first to show that rats are willing to lever press for social play reinforcement. This demonstration fits into a larger literature that has described reinforcing properties of a wide variety of social behaviors, including maternal, sexual, and aggressive behavior (Everitt, 1990;Fish et al, 2002;Trezza et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussion An Operant Conditioning Task For Social Playsupporting

confidence: 83%

Contrasting Roles of Dopamine and Noradrenaline in the Motivational Properties of Social Play Behavior in Rats

Achterberg

Kerkhof

Servadio

et al. 2015

Neuropsychopharmacol

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Social play behavior, abundant in the young of most mammalian species, is thought to be important for social and cognitive development. Social play is highly rewarding, and as such, the expression of social play depends on its pleasurable and motivational properties. Since the motivational properties of social play have only sporadically been investigated, we developed a setup in which rats responded for social play under a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement. Dopaminergic neurotransmission plays a key role in incentive motivational processes, and both dopamine and noradrenaline have been implicated in the modulation of social play behavior. Therefore, we investigated the role of dopamine and noradrenaline in the motivation for social play. Treatment with the psychostimulant drugs methylphenidate and cocaine increased responding for social play, but suppressed its expression during reinforced play periods. The dopamine reuptake inhibitor GBR-12909 increased responding for social play, but did not affect its expression, whereas the noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor atomoxetine decreased responding for social play as well as its expression. The effects of methylphenidate and cocaine on responding for social play, but not their play-suppressant effects, were blocked by pretreatment with the dopamine receptor antagonist α-flupenthixol. In contrast, pretreatment with the α2-adrenoceptor antagonist RX821002 prevented the play-suppressant effect of methylphenidate, but left its effect on responding for social play unaltered. In sum, the present study introduces a novel method to study the incentive motivational properties of social play behavior in rats. Using this paradigm, we demonstrate dissociable roles for dopamine and noradrenaline in social play behavior: dopamine stimulates the motivation for social play, whereas noradrenaline negatively modulates the motivation for social play behavior and its expression.

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Section: Discussion An Operant Conditioning Task For Social Playsupporting

confidence: 83%

Contrasting Roles of Dopamine and Noradrenaline in the Motivational Properties of Social Play Behavior in Rats

Achterberg

Kerkhof

Servadio

et al. 2015

Neuropsychopharmacol

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“…Because of the fitness benefits of high social status, especially for males, males should be motivated to interact aggressively with other males, and to some extent may find aggression rewarding. This is supported by the finding that male mice (M. musculus) will work for brief aggressive encounters with intruder males (Fish et al, 2002). Our findings pinpoint the need to establish the motives of social contact through behavioural observations, and not to rely on operant motivation alone when examining animals' need for contact as a possible means to improve welfare.…”

Section: The Animals' Behaviour With the Resourcessupporting

confidence: 65%

Evaluation of the ‘maximum price paid’ as an index of motivational strength for farmed silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes)

Hovland

Mason

Bøe

et al. 2006

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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To measure farmed foxes' motivations for full, naturalistic social contact, we constructed an apparatus where they could perform an operant to access stimuli, but then leave freely and thence determine their own bout lengths. Motivational measures based on demand curves can be invalid in such set-ups, and we therefore sought to validate the measure 'maximum price paid'. This was achieved by measuring six silver fox males' maximum operant responding for access or proximity to three resources differing in biological significance: food, vixens in oestrus and males. We predicted that if valid, maximum price paid would be highest for food and vixens. Maximum price were 970 AE 399 (S.E.) for food, 677 AE 173 (S.E.) for vixens and 389 AE 101 (S.E.) for other males (P < 0.05). In contrast, our complementary measures of motivation -price elasticity, expenditure and consumer surplus -did not differentiate between the resources, and ranked them in different orders (albeit not significantly). This was because the foxes rescheduled their behaviour with increasing costs, decreasing bout number while increasing bout length, to different extents with the three resources. Additional findings showed that all subjects 'overpaid', performing the operant response more than was required. This increased as the costs increased, perhaps due to increasing 'time outs' on the time-restricted schedule (DRH) as the task got harder. However, the overpayment was also highest when males were the resource, suggesting that operant responding was slowest and least efficient when working for less-valued resources. The resources present also affected how the foxes used the rest of the apparatus and influenced their behaviour; subjects staying more in the operant compartment when the resource was social (especially a female), but retreating to a distant compartment when it was food. While proximity to oestrous vixens elicited higher levels of tail wagging and only low levels of pacing, indicating a positive motivation, proximity to males elicited relatively high levels of pacing plus agonistic gaping, suggesting that the motives for seeking contact with males related to aggression. Thus, although our operant set-up reveals a drive to approach other males, the possible aggressive motives suggest that this sort of social contact would not necessarily improve their welfare in a traditional housing system. Overall, these results help improve the design and interpretation of preference tests, and confirm maximum price paid as a useful motivational measure for farmed foxes. #

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“…Gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA[A]) receptor modulators may enhance aggression (83), and tiagabine, a GABA uptake inhibitor, decreases aggression, possibly by suppressing reactions to aversive stimuli (84). Thus, reduced activity at GABA receptors may contribute to aggression, while glutamatergic enhancement increases aggression (85), raising the possibility of an imbalance in the GABA/ glutamatergic systems in aggression (86).…”

Section: Neuromodulators Neurotransmittersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurobiology of Aggression and Violence

Siever¹

2008

AJP

801

619

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Acts of violence account for an estimated 1.43 million deaths worldwide annually. While violence can occur in many contexts, individual acts of aggression account for the majority of instances. In some individuals, repetitive acts of aggression are grounded in an underlying neurobiological susceptibility that is just beginning to be understood. The failure of "top-down" control systems in the prefrontal cortex to modulate aggressive acts that are triggered by anger provoking stimuli appears to play an important role. An imbalance between prefrontal regulatory influences and hyper-responsivity of the amygdala and other limbic regions involved in affective evaluation are implicated. Insufficient serotonergic facilitation of "top-down" control, excessive catecholaminergic stimulation, and subcortical imbalances of glutamatergic/ gabaminergic systems as well as pathology in neuropeptide systems involved in the regulation of affiliative behavior may contribute to abnormalities in this circuitry. Thus, pharmacological interventions such as mood stabilizers, which dampen limbic irritability, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which may enhance "top-down" control, as well as psychosocial interventions to develop alternative coping skills and reinforce reflective delays may be therapeutic.Human aggression and violence are, unfortunately, ubiquitous phenomena with substantial costs to our society. The detrimental effects of aggression and violence are documented daily in the media. Aggression-defined as hostile, injurious, or destructive behavior often caused by frustration-can be collective or individual. The mental health professional is often called upon to evaluate pathological forms of individual aggression in the clinical, forensic, and school setting, yet the causes and treatment of pathological aggression and violence are poorly understood and understudied (1). While the underpinnings of human aggression are clearly multifactorial, including political, socioeconomic, cultural, medical, and psychological factors, it is also clear that some forms of pathological aggression, such as impulsive aggression (which occurs in the context of emotional arousal and provocation), have an underlying neurobiology that we are only beginning to understand. In this overview, after defining aggression, its prevalence, and its phenomenology, we will address the neurobiology of aggression, particularly pathological forms of impulsive aggression, by discussing the circuitry, both cortical and subcortical, as well as the role of neuromodulators in the initiation and suppression of aggression.Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Siever, Department of Psychiatry (OOMH), 130 West Kingsbridge Rd., Bronx, NY 10468; Larry.Siever@va.gov. Dr. Siever reports no competing interests. NIH Public Access Definitions of AggressionAggression may be classified in a number of ways, for example, by the target of aggression (e.g., self-directed or other-directed), mode of aggression (e.g., physical or verbal, direct ...

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Aggressive behavior as a reinforcer in mice: activation by allopregnanolone

Cited by 109 publications

References 60 publications

Contrasting Roles of Dopamine and Noradrenaline in the Motivational Properties of Social Play Behavior in Rats

Contrasting Roles of Dopamine and Noradrenaline in the Motivational Properties of Social Play Behavior in Rats

Evaluation of the ‘maximum price paid’ as an index of motivational strength for farmed silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes)

Neurobiology of Aggression and Violence

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